December 7-18 I hope that each of your families had a wonderful week off. I am so thankful to have this class, students, parents, and my own family. Thanks for each of you for making my Big 50 a special day. Wow, this would make you want to be 50 again, NOT. I so appreciate each of you and how you and your child made it so special. Reading- We will be reading aloud in shared reading and identifying different stories with Christmas and Winter meanings. We will all be reading in some type of chapter books this week and next. WE are trying hard to beat our goals this month since the weather will be in favor for us to be more inside. ( Rain and Snow ) Ha. Our leveled reading groups are going well. I have 6 reading groups to read with each week. I try to get to the everyday or every other. This really depends if our day isn't interrupted. I am so proud of each of the students hearing their reading already improving. I love to hear the voice in each of their voice. Science-We will be ending the Scientific Method and beginning Animals. Please read your child's journal each weekend. We will be writing in those on Friday. They should take them home on Friday. Please read what they wrote, and write them back. These should be returned on Monday with their Friday folder. ( Please make sure you are writing to your child over the weekend. It can be short and sweet if you need it to be. Writing Workshop- We will be writing different versions of Christmas stories, productive thinking, using sparkle words in our writing, and making list of things that we appreciate and knowing the difference between wants and needs for the holiday. Language- Proper nouns, nouns, sparkle words to replace adjectives. Spelling-Long o words and a slight version of Christmas words next week. We will write the list on Monday, illustrate a poem on it, magnetic letters, folder activity over words,pretest and then post test over the words with partners. We will have a spelling test this week and dictation test next week. Math-We are beginning chapter 9 on addition . We will need practice on this at home. DEAR-. This will be on Friday afternoon. They will Drop Everything And Read. We will lay on the ground and enjoy reading a good book. Remember that your child needs to read a minimum of 60 minutes a week. You need to write down the times each time they read. Points will be deducted for each minute not read each week. The students are bringing home their leveled books 3 to 4 times a week. Please remember that these count as well. Anytime read at home counts. This should always be an easy 100 for the kids. Reminders: Newsletter is being sent home today from our Room Mom asking for volunteers to bring stuff for the Christmas Party. We are also making small versions of Gingerbread Houses at the party. We will need you to sign up to bring supplies for this. It will be part of our party and food. Continue to bring in those box tops. We were the winners last month. I have my whole family collecting for us as well. You may start bringing in your Penny Christmas Gifts next week. Please bring in a shoe box, normal, size by Friday. This is where we will place our Penny Christmas Gifts. All progress reports are due back. Winter Parties are next Thursday, Dec. 17 at 1:30. Please come and have fun with us. Early Dis. is next Friday, Dec. 18. I will try to update this as new things appear. Thanks for being such a special part of your child's life. Being a partner with you, is the real reason for success. Have a great week. Sincerely, Tammy Kaufhold Links to enjoy: Students have been exploring Fact Monster. It's a fun and interesting site. http://www.factmonster.com/ Log into brainpopjr for some learning fun. The user name is labs. The password is rule. http://www.brainpopjr.com Are you ready to take an interactive field trip? Come and explore Carlsbad Caverns! The login is carlsbad. The password is caverns. http://www.bsu.edu/eft/caves/p/ Check out nettrecker. This is a safe search engine made just for kids! The user name is fisdww and the password student. Have fun! http://elementary.nettrekker.com/subject/?home=1 Okay Third Graders! Let's get ready to practice our typing skills! (This site is for third grade only!) http://tech.classroom.com Use your easytech license to go to Learning.com! http://www.learning.com/ Check out Destination Reading & Math. It's cool. This link will only work if you are at Westwood! http://fjhsrv1.fisdk12.net/lms Put the puzzle together & sing this great song! http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-songs-computer-mouse-popup.htm Use your "smarts". Learn how to stay safe online with the netsmart Kids! http://www.netsmartzkids.org/indexFL.htm